


an awkward agreement

by mukemagic



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Confessions, Crack, Drunken Shenanigans, Drunkenness, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, a bit of, but lowkey quite, idk what i'm doing here, look it's daft and sorta cute, too - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 14:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18661849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mukemagic/pseuds/mukemagic
Summary: ryan has never seen shane this drunk before. it's funny, until it's not.(or the one where shane is the cutest, dumb drunk until he gets them all into a bit of an angsty pickle [one that floats on ponds... ??])





	an awkward agreement

**Author's Note:**

> honestly gang i don't even know really  
> i just love the idea of shane being a daft idiot drunk and ryan/sara being fond of him for it

You’d think considering the height of him, he’d be able to handle his alcohol well. But alas, kids, that’s not the case for the 6ft 4’ giant that is Shane Madej, who is currently and very much excitedly tugging at his friend’s arm in an attempt to get his full attention.

“Shane, man, I’m already listening, you don’t need to pull on me.” Ryan laughs, taking in the sight of the goofy lopsided grin plastered to Shane’s face.

“I had- I had an idea, Ry- It’s a good one!” The tall, gangly, very much drunken male replies.

“Do share with the room.” Ryan says, eyes shining with amusement; he’s never seen his friend this shit-faced.

“Look!” Shane starts, hands still gripping at Ryan’s muscular forearm, like he’s totally unaware he’s still touching him. “I’m just saying, that ep where you dressed up as Indiana Jones was a _hoot_ and it went down so well with the viewers, we should do it again, you should wear that… that outfit all the time. You looked so good.” He’s rambling. God he’s so wasted.

Sara takes Ryan’s shocked silence as her cue to finally interject, despite how hilarious she’s finding watching Shane make a fool of himself.

“Alright, big guy, I think it’s time to go home.”

It elicits a lengthy whine from the older Ghoul Boy. “But…”

“Not buts.” Sara replies, smiling fondly over at her intoxicated boyfriend.

“Ha- _butts_.” Shane says intelligently.

“Come on.” Ryan eventually adds, having found his voice and standing from his seat. He gestures for Shane to follow, and he watches the male shuffle gracelessly out of the booth the three of them had vacated for the past few hours.

At the last second, Shane catches a knee on the table and buckles forward like a baby giraffe learning how to walk and fortunately, Ryan is there to catch him, curling fingers around his slim waist to steady him.

“You going to be okay to walk?” Ryan asks, as Shane’s forehead finds itself pressed into the crease of his co-worker’s tanned neck.

“No.” He grunts, lips moving against the fabric of his friend’s shirt, where he struggles to lift his head up. His own neck feels useless right now. What a stupid neck. Urgh. “M’dizzy.” Shane explains, feeling like the blood is rushing to his brain. He can’t remember the last time he drank this much. Probably college. You know, back when his younger body could handle the chemical abuse that his thirty year old self certainly, and _clearly_ , can’t.

He can feel as Ryan giggles, his body vibrating against him where they’re still connected. He can feel the ghost of Ryan’s hot breath on his scalp, it’s soothing, the rhythmic feel of it as he breathes in and out, in and out. Shane could sleep here.

“Ah- no- I don’t think so, big guy.” Ryan laughs again, apparently Shane said that last bit out loud. He whines into his co-worker’s chest. What a cruel, cruel world to make him have to trudge around all these long limbs when he’s inebriated. He tells Ryan such. “I know, man, but you gotta help me out here, Sara can’t carry you, you’ll squish her diddy self to death, she’ll become a ghostie, she’s the kind to haunt us.”

“Damn straight I would… if they were real that is, Bergara!” Sara chips in, settling a warm, small hand on Shane’s lower back.

The drunken male lets out of content sigh, he feels enveloped in love, squished in between them as they both look after him. He’s warm all over, and not just from the excess alcohol he’s consumed.

It’s a full on effort for the three of them to climb into the back of the Lyft Sara had ordered. The driver quirks an eyebrow in the rear-view mirror as Shane protests about feeling squashed against the door; but Sara and Ryan had quickly decided it’d be in everyone’s best interest for them both to be in reach of Shane and his long limbs. It’s why Ryan is sat beside him, ready to reach for hands that dare to stick out of the window. Apparently the taller male has done that before when inebriated and Sara’s heart couldn’t take the thought of it happening again.

But current drunken Shane has other ideas tonight. He reaches out his long arm over Ryan to place his hand in Sara’s, his elbow pressed into his Ryan’s toned tummy where he sits in between the couple. “I’ve had fun tonight.” Shane confesses, with a dopey smile and fond eyes.

“That’s cocktail number seven speaking.” Sara laughs.

“Noooo!” Shane says, far too loudly for the small vehicle. “Me, Shane Madej, _I_ had the fun.”

Ryan chuckles, his belly twitches with it and Shane’s eyes shoot to the motion. Without thought, he slips his fingers out of Sara’s hold and prods at Ryan’s lower stomach, pressing against the zipper of his jeans. Understandably, the younger male tenses but Shane can feel that too below the pad of his fingertips. In his drunken state, he’s fascinated.

“Shane.” Ryan whispers, voice low.

“ _Shane_.” Sara repeats, tone more firm like she’s reprimanding a small child.

The man in question’s head shoots up, looks directly into Sara’s gaze, then turns to face a beady looking Ryan Bergara. “S-sorry.” He says, just as quiet and breathless as Ryan had, pulling his hand away and placing it in his own lap. He stares down at his fingers, that still tingle from Ryan’s warmth.

“It’s-“ Ryan clears his throat. “It’s okay, big guy.”

They sit in silence then for the rest of the ride until they pull up to Sara and Shane’s apartment complex. Sara gets out first and Ryan hurries to get round to open the door for Shane, helping him up where he wobbles on his feet.

“Can you wait for five minutes, man? Just helping him upstairs.” Ryan asks the driver, but Sara shakes her head before telling the taxi to shoot off. “What you doing?”

“Stay. I can’t let you ride alone, you know the rules.” She grins at him sweetly, knowing he can’t argue back to her. They’d made an agreement some years back about how Ryan should always be dropped off first for his own safety since Sara and Shane would be together. “We can’t have you being another victim of a cab driver killer.”

“Shane could host the True Crime ep on my murder.” Ryan jokes as they remain stood on the sidewalk, casting shadows where the glow of the street lights hit off their frames. Their dark outlines mesh together where they lay on the floor, beneath their feet.

And then, suddenly, there’s a sound of a sob.

They both turn to Shane, who’s crying, face all crumpled up. “No!” He wails and presses himself into Ryan’s neck, face first.

“Woah!” Ryan huffs out, grateful he hadn’t slacked on leg day this month since he’s currently holding the both of them up, having stopped them from tumbling back from the force of Shane’s broad, tall body unexpectedly slamming into him. “It’s- it’s a joke, big guy.” He says softly, rubbing at his friend’s back in soothing circles.

“I don’t-“ Shane hiccups, probably a combined effect of too much alcohol and his tears. “I don’t want to think about that. You have to live with us forever.”

It’s silent for a beat or two, Ryan stands blinking in shock at Sara, who just shrugs her small shoulders nonchalantly at him, her brown eyes gleaming with something he can’t quite comprehend.

“Are you admitting to the idea that there may be immortals?” Ryan teases, trying instead to lighten the mood as he pulls at the back of Shane’s shirt, putting some space between them so he can work his arm around the drunken male and guide him towards the building.

Shane doesn’t reply, he’s busy frowning. He can’t do a single Unsolved show without his old pal Ryan Bergara. Never. Ever.

He tells him such.

“I know, man.” Ryan says gently, trying to comfort the overgrown man that sniffles as they stumble through the front entrance.

Fortunately, and Ryan thanks the heavens above, there’s a functioning lift in the couple’s apartment complex unlike at his own. He doesn’t think he could manage lugging Shane’s unsteady frame up three flights of stairs. He props Shane against the mirrored wall, pressing the side of his own body against his friend’s front to keep him upright. His shoulder flush to Shane’s warm torso, and the lanky male threatens to lean down and use Ryan’s head as a pillow as the doors close over.

It doesn’t take long before the elevator chimes, alerting them to the fact that they’ve reached their floor. Sara takes lead, walking a few steps ahead, tight curls bouncing with each step until she is stood outside the bright yellow door to their apartment. It’s the only painted door on the whole ground. Sara’s idea that came to her one spring morning. She’d rambled excitedly to Shane about it over their breakfast before texting Ryan to meet them at some store she’d found on Twitter that promised her a “startling sunflower shade”. She had needed his advice since Shane apparently “couldn’t tell one yellow from the next.”

“Alright, big guy.” Ryan says as he half carries Shane through the threshold.

They’re hit by warm air where Sara had left the heating on before they’d left, it’s not too stuffy though since Shane had also left their front windows open. (“You’re letting all the warmth out!” “I’m letting all the fresh air _in_ , Sara! Think of our lovely cat son Obi, he needs good oxygen in his lungs!”)

The tanned male makes way for the sofa, but Sara gestures her head in the direction of the bedroom. Ryan nods in understanding, taking the hallway as quickly and carefully as he can while Shane remains glued to him.

He places his drunken friend gently down on the mattress of the bed, giggling to himself as Shane mumbles nonsense about “Oh Monsieur Bergara, buy a man a drink first.”

“I did, I bought you plenty, mister.” Ryan replies, cheeks hurting from smiling so wide at his idiot best friend.

“Yes, you did, and now look at this mess of ours.” Sara says as she enters the room, kicking off her shoes. As she passes by them to head to the dresser to grab her pyjamas, she lets her fingers ruffle through Ryan’s dark hair. He looks over at her, still smiling and she mirrors his expression, her eyes fond. “Need a hand?” She asks, beginning her search through Shane’s drawers to find something for Ryan to change into.

“I’m just going to take off his boots and shove him under the duvet.”

“It’s what he deserves.” Sara says, eyes glistening from the obvious joke, waiting to see if Shane will take offence. But he doesn’t, instead they’re met by silence as Shane looks up at the ceiling, looking deep in thought.

“Don’t think too hard, it’ll hurt that little brain swimming round that massive head of yours.” Ryan kids.

“Live with us forever.” Shane whispers, more to himself, eyebrows pulling together in confusion. He repeats the words a number of times, like he’s tasting them in his mouth.

“Huh?” Sara says, an old grey tee and pj bottoms far too long for Ryan’s average height legs in hand.

Ryan distantly remembers it’s what Shane had said back out on the pavement, when he’d got upset about the idea of Ryan being murked. “You- we were joking about the taxi thing, man, it’s okay. I’m safe. I’m staying the night.”

“Huh?” It’s Shane’s turn to say it now.

Ryan raises his eyebrows up at Sara, who gives another half shrug like they should both be used to Shane’s weirdness by now. It’s just his weirdness has reached its max in all its drunken glory apparently.

Shane makes an attempt to sit up, nearly kicking Ryan in the face where he’d been sat untying his wasted friend’s bootlaces at the bottom of the bed.

“Noooo!” He says, suddenly much more loudly. “Sara, Sara!” The 6ft 4’ male yells excitedly.

“What?” She laughs at her boyfriend’s foolishness, coming closer and perching on the corner of the bed like a little pixie, placing the clothes down beside her.

“Live with us forever!” Shane says once again, tone brighter, like he’s onto something and he wants her to catch up.

“ _Shane_.” She says, sternly for the second time tonight as if to chastise him. She shakes her head, purple curls dancing around her face with the force of it. The smile she’d been sharing with Ryan moments before now replaced with a saddened, somewhat guilty, frown. She can no longer look him in the eye, finding the pyjamas she picked for him more interesting.

“Huh?” It’s apparently Ryan’s chance to utter the word.

“Live w-“ Shane is cut off by Sara saying his name once again. He falls back, head hitting the mattress, dejected. He sighs, shuffling his feet slightly and they knock into Ryan whose fingers are still tangled in the double knotted laces of Shane’s boots.

“I know I had four beers, and I lost track of how many this beanstalk had, but did he just ask-“ Ryan pauses, he isn’t sure he’s following this conversation anymore. He’s exhausted, he’d gone to work early and around midday Sara had invited him for a meal then some drinks afterwards, just the three of them. He clears his throat, trying again. “Is he asking me to live with you?”

Sara feels like she could choke on the tension that fills the room like a cloud of smoke.

“Y-yeah.” She stutters, honest. She feels a lot more sober than she did before they left the bar. “He’s drunk though, he’s just-“

Ryan exhales a shaky breath, arms falling to his sides and abandoning his attempts at helping Shane undress.

“What was tonight?” He asks. He’s been wanting to question her all evening.

“What do you mean? We, uh, we were hanging out. Like we always do.” She’s playing with a loose thread on the clothes that she’s now pulled into her lap.

“Yeah, we always do.” Ryan agrees. “But literally Sara _we always do_. You, me, Shane. All three of us. When did you two last have a date night?”

“I-“ She seems lost for words. “Ryan, please.” Her voice cracks, like she’s close to begging. “I can’t have this conversation with you. Not now- we’re too drunk.”

“If I’d said yes, then what?” Ryan is trying to be brave but it’s probably the beers encouraging him to do something stupid.

“Yes to what?”

“To Shane, about living with you.”

Sara looks up then, she studies his face, trying to read his expression, establish if he’s angry or disgusted or anything remotely negative. She just finds herself looking at her friend, genuinely curious and looking vulnerable.

She doesn’t answer, letting a silence fall over them. Her brown eyes sting where tears begin to form and her mouth twists as she gnaws nervously on the inside of her cheek.

“Then you’d live with us by the next day.” It’s Shane’s voice that cuts through the deafening sounds of nothing.

Everything feels cut open and raw. It’s painful, the honesty they’re facing while none of them are sober enough to handle it. Shane especially is far too gone for such a conversation. He thinks he’s dreaming it, if he’s truthful with himself. And most likely won’t remember any of this moment when he wakes up.

 _He’s lucky_ , Sara thinks. He gets the opportunity to forget the agony of them collectively recognising they’ve been dancing around each other for possibly years now.

_Damn drunken Madej getting me into this shit alone._

“We- we need to talk about this.” Ryan looks… well the most anxious Sara has ever seen him. And she’s watched hundreds of clips of him fearfully treading through supposedly haunted locations. He pulls his hand through his hair, tugging it up in all directions, evidently a nervous habit.

“In the morning.” She offers, placing the pyjamas out in front of her for him to take.

He nods, because he’s not sure what else to do, grasping at the nightwear and swiping a throw blanket where it’s folded over an armchair the pair have in the corner of their bedroom. He wants to bolt, call for a taxi and hide in the comfort of his own home but… the trio have a longstanding agreement: Ryan gets dropped off first or he stays the night. He can’t break that now, not following the conversation he’s just left behind in the couple’s bedroom and also because he is ridiculously (and rather irrationally) superstitious; scared it will jinx him and he’ll end up murdered in the back of some Uber.

So he goes to the kitchen, gets himself a glass of water, pours out two more to place outside Sara and Shane’s room, shuffles out of his clothes and into Shane’s, and then settles on the couch.

He knows it’s going to be a restless night. He can hear the couple whispering from the other room.

And while he’s anxious, what he’s most scared by is the fact they all seem to be on the same page. Like Ryan had always been a part of Sara and Shane, without them ever having to voice it. But now they have. It’s been projected into the air, forcing them all to hear and acknowledge it. His heartbeat thumps aggressively in his chest and he can hear his pulse in his ears, the loud drum of it eventually lulls him to sleep after an hour or two. To dream about what the morning will bring.

(Hangovers, most likely. And a _giant_ one at that for the 6ft 4’ giant that is Shane Madej.)

**Author's Note:**

> welp, as usual, this got away from me. i can't seem to do 1000 worders. i'm TRYING.  
> anyway if you want i've just started back up on tumblr again, you can find me [here](https://hallowwen.tumblr.com/) come say hi (:


End file.
